One striking difference between U.S. culture and the culture here in Botswana, and perhaps in other southern African countries, is the attitude toward owning and operating a motor vehicle. We can't easily call to mind anyone in the states in or near our age group who did not take driver training and the licensing test, or apply for a driver's license when they were teenagers, regardless of whether they expected to own a vehicle. People who don't own vehicles in the U.S. typically will still have access to one, so having a license seems practical.

It is very expensive to purchase, insure and maintain a private vehicle in Botswana, and financially beyond the reach of many people living in towns similar in size to Shakawe. Botswana has some paved roads crisscrossing the country, but several are in poor condition, which is hard on vehicles. The livestock roaming the roads present another challenge to drivers; scores of cows, donkeys, goats, and occasionally dogs and chickens are everywhere. The paved roads are two lanes only, so avoiding obstacles without causing an accident is tricky. Fortunately, it is not often that vehicles traveling in opposite directions are in exactly the same spot at once.

Many of Jeff's Batswana colleagues, who are people in their twenties and thirties, do not have driver's licenses, and most have never driven a vehicle. Some are now in the process of obtaining learners' permits and studying for the test. The most frequently used forms of transportation here are walking, riding in privately-owned commercial busses, riding in small privately-owned vans called "combies" that hold about 16 passengers, and hitchhiking. In towns such as Shakawe there is no government-sponsored or municipal public transport, such as city busses in the U.S.

There is an etiquette for hitchhiking, which seems to be well understood by everyone. The customary procedure is to pay the driver the amount that would have been spent on bus or combie fare to the desired destination. Drivers with bakkies (pickups) usually put hitchhikers in the bed of the pickup, which is illegal in the U.S. Anytime we are driving we see at least three or four bakkies loaded down with people, furniture, water cans, firewood, and sometimes livestock riding with the people in the beds of the bakkies. (People who live in the many traditional villages here use collected timber for heating, cooking and light, and sometimes have to travel a fair distance to collect the timber.)

Tocadi, Jeff's employer, owns four vehicles and employs two drivers to transport employees and board members to and from villages for meetings and project management. Jeff also uses our bakkie from time to time for company projects.